Description
Mary Long was born in Guthrie, Kentucky in 1941. In 1961 she moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in nursing, and in 1963 began working at the emergency room at Grady Memorial Hospital. As a member of the Georgia Nurses' Association in the early 1970s, Long became interested in the activities of the Georgia ERA campaign. She was particularly interested in women's reproductive rights and appeared as one of the plaintiffs in the Georgia abortion case Doe v Bolton. Long participated in a number of women's organizations; she volunteered for the Georgia Nurses' Association, the Equal Rights campaign, as well as the Women's Political Caucus while simultaneously working the night shift at Grady Hospital. Long has many professional achievements: She founded Georgia's first health clinic for the homeless; she served as president of the Georgia Nurses Foundation, president of Friends and Public Health, and as president of the Georgia Nurses Association; she was the first African-American and first nurse to lead the board of the YMCA of Greater Atlanta, as well as the first African-American woman to serve as vice-chair of the Commission on Children and Youth. She also served as chair and as an active member of Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition. Long has been honored numerous times for her unwavering commitment to social causes and is a three-time recipient of the Appreciation for Leadership Skills in Government Affairs Certificate from the Georgia Nurses Association. In 1996, the YMCA of greater Atlanta presented the 13th Anniversary Salute to Women...
Sound
Paulk, Janet, 1932
The full transcript and audio recording of this oral history interview may be accessed in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room, or researchers may request copies. For more information, click the Usage Policies and Ordering link above, or contact us at archives@gsu.edu or 404-413-2880.